ROMA, Texas — Richard Guerra is a fourth-generation rancher whose family's 8,000 acres of land sits a mile away from the U.S.-Mexico border at certain points. Much like others who live in the Rio Grande Valley, he told Townhall he noticed a stark difference after President Donald Trump left office in January.
Illegal immigrants trespassing on private land while making their way towards the interior of the United States is a problem that has long plagued ranchers and landowners who live near the southwest border that seems only to have gotten worse with President Joe Biden.
"The way [illegal immigrants] impact the landowners is pretty significant. I, as one of the landowners, there are so many landowners, that what happens to us is the intrusion or trespassing, if you will, along our property causes damages. Damages in the nature of fences, fences being torn down, gates being left open, cattle get comingled," Guerra, who is of Mexican and Irish heritage, explained.
Such large numbers of recent border crossers trespassing on private property in only the first four months of Biden's presidency place a financial burden on U.S. residents. Guerra explained fever ticks are a huge concern for cattle and due to the ticks being rampant in Mexico, illegal immigrants often carry them when they pass through cattle ranches. If a tick inspector sees cattle having the nasty critter, the whole herd is quarantined and they can not be moved until animal authorities are sure they are no longer carrying the bug, adding costs to the rancher.
Guerra said he generally supports a border wall because it can be helpful in stopping animals with fever ticks from getting onto their ranches, but humans "always find a way." He is personally a big fan of the aerostat surveillance systems because they can cover wide areas and spot people crossing the border.
All of this to say that Guerra wants Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the border so they can see the issues for themselves. His feeling is common among many of the other ranchers in the area, Guerra told me.
"Come to my ranch, I'll take you down there, I'll show you around," Guerra said addressing Biden and Harris.
"I do criticize them. I think it's a lack of interest, I don't know what they're afraid of. The media does a great job, all of you do a great job, in covering the existing problem. It is a crisis, it's chaotic now, it's gone beyond a crisis, it's chaos. And the President and Vice President for some reason, I don't know why, they refuse to come down," Guerra continued.
In the time since the surge in illegal foot traffic reached new heights after Biden took office, Guerra said he's more than glad someone like Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is in office. Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March to send extra Texas state troopers and National Guardsmen to the border to help the overwhelmed Border Patrol agents. It is hard to get away with speeding between McAllen and Roma since state troopers are seemingly parked by every bush and intersection on U.S. Highway 83.
"I thank God that we have a governor in the state of Texas that has the huevos, the balls, to put the troopers out there to intercept the criminal activity because it is a well-known fact when all these people come across, Border Patrol doesn't have enough people to handle all of them," Guerra said.
Guerra said people who do not live by the border can easily see the big problems at the border because the media is doing a good job covering the issue.
"So they can see what our problems are, maybe they don't realize it or maybe they don't care, but we that live here, we do care because it is affecting our lives...So I would say to them when you see this, when the media, like yourself, covers something like this, take heed...It's not fake news, it's real footage, it's true, it's real."